The story behind Gian Paolo Barbieri’s cinematic fashion photography, which helped define the 1990s

Rupert Everett glares at the camera, hands draped over the side of a sedan, bulky signet rings cradling each pinkie. Behind him is Donatella Versace, arms neatly tucked inside the vehicle, large black sunglasses hiding eyes that look the other way. Shot by the late Italian photographer Gian Paolo Barbieri in 1996, there’s a particular slickness to the image, underscored by an air of nonchalance and the car’s high shine.

‘It’s a scene that encapsulates Milanese elegance and that subtle play of complicity and distance that defined pop culture in that decade: two stars in a stolen moment, infused with a typically 1990s attitude,’ offers Eugenio Calini, one of the co-founders of Milan-based gallery 29 Arts in Progress. More broadly, it speaks to Barbieri’s interests in fashion and the movies.

Eternal Elegance: The Timeless Photography of Gian Paolo Barbieri in Milan

‘Barbieri’s images were already circulating as icons when we began working together, thanks to their elegance, scenographic construction and use of light,’ recalls Calini, who has worked with the photographer’s archive for more than a decade. ‘Discovering him more closely, through the archive and direct collaboration, was like stepping into a richly layered universe, where every detail had meaning and a narrative function.’

Prior to training in Paris under the Hungarian photographer Tom Kublin, in 1962 Barbieri moved from Milan to Rome to pursue a career in film, and his later artistic practice was largely informed by this deep affection for cinema. Indeed, Eva Herzigová, in an image shot for the Italian publication Io Donna in 1997, appears to perform a role, eating tomato pasta opposite an unidentified male companion (a romantic partner? Agent? Studio boss?), as portraits of iconic cinematic figures watch over her shoulder. ‘Barbieri’s decision to place her directly in front of photographs of Alfred Hitchcock, the great director he always admired, and the legendary Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida, highlights the importance that cinema and Rome always held in his photography,’ Calini observes.

The photograph is currently on display as part of ‘Eternal Elegance: The Timeless Photography of Gian Paolo Barbieri’ (until 15 January 2026), a new show curated by Calini and his 29 Arts in Progress co-founder, Luca Casulli, at the recently opened headquarters and art space of Zurich Italy (notably, it neighbours the historic opera house, Teatro alla Scala).

While perhaps less widely recognised than some of his peers, Barbieri was a major protagonist of 20th-century fashion photography, shooting the inaugural cover of Vogue Italia in 1965 and, subsequently, shaping the industry’s visual culture through his collaborations with major fashion houses – Versace, Armani and Valentino among them. His partnership with Gianni Versace, in particular, was hugely important and Barbieri, who passed away last year, described the relationship as one of his most creative. ‘We looked at the world through the same lens, understood and trusted each other immediately,’ he told The Guardian in 2023. ‘Gianni had blind faith in my imagination, gave me total freedom.’

‘He never limited himself to illustrating a garment or a face, instead building worlds, atmospheres, characters,’ continues the gallerist. ‘His archive is a living and invaluable resource, and his legacy is twofold. On one hand, the extremely high technical level he achieved – a formal rigour and mastery of light – and on the other, his ability to transform the image of fashion into a story suspended between elegance and theatricality. Many contemporary photographers look to him precisely for this balance.’

Across the new exhibition, which features work made between the mid-1960s and early 2000s, Italy, and oftentimes Milan, become active participants, such as in the A/W 1991 campaign Barbieri shot for Gianfranco Ferré. In one image, a glamorous restaging of Hitchcock’s 1963 picture The Birds, the model Aly Dunne poses in front of the Duomo di Milano, pigeons taking off all around her. ‘Milan was Barbieri’s creative ground, and the Piazza del Duomo is the symbolic heart of Milan – choosing it meant intertwining the architectural strength of Ferré’s garments with that of the city itself,’ suggests Calini. ‘It unites fashion and architecture beyond a simple editorial.’

‘He constantly reinvented the language [of photography],’ the gallerist adds, reflecting on what set Barbieri apart during his lifetime. ‘Many photographers of his era were tied to more rigid frameworks – Barbieri merged the sense of theatre, painting, and cinema. He was a visionary, but possessed a rare artisanal precision, and was always ready to experiment. It’s striking to realise how tireless he was in his pursuit of perfection and beauty. Not just creating beautiful or technically flawless images, but truly memorable ones. He loved looking back, reinterpreting past images – never with nostalgia but the desire to understand them better.’

‘Eternal Elegance: The Timeless Photography of Gian Paolo Barbieri’ runs at Zurich Italia and Zurich Bank Via Santa Margherita 11 – Milan until 15 January 2026, 29artsinprogress.com